Doyle’s dream week ends on a high

LIFE cannot get much sweeter for Kevin Doyle. The Wexford-born striker has just enjoyed the kind of week he must have wished would never end: a lucrative new contract, tying him to the Royals until 2011, two goals here which brought him his half-century for the Berkshire club three years after joining and the chance to enhance his international credentials in next week’s clash with Poland.

Things could yet get even better. Reading are firmly on track to regain their Premier League status, lost so dramatically last season, with Doyle’s goals fuelling Steve Coppell’s team this term.

The former Cork City player and his strike partner Noel Hunt were a constant threat to Paul Jewell’s Derby and Coppell contends that maintaining a goal threat is the key to winning promotion.